"Dune" star Anya Taylor-Joy has come under fire for "normalizing starvation" and promoting eating disorders after posting a photo on social media displaying her small waist in a corset.
The actress wore a gold bodycon dress with a layer of black tulle on top to the New York premiere of "Dune: Part 2." In an Instagram post about the event, Taylor-Joy shared a black-and-white photo revealing the slim corset she wore underneath, giving followers a glimpse of her figure.
The post drew a strong reaction, with some fans going as far as to call her out for "setting a poor example" for younger women by revealing her slim frame.
"Can we not normalize starvation?" one said in response to the photo.
"Rough. Expected better from you tbh. Thinness isn't chic," another wrote.
"Obviously you're very beautiful — but your first pic is not so cool," another wrote. "I feel like you're glamorising your synched waist and your tiny frame, and it doesn't make me feel good — young women are very impressionable, this isn't a healthy impression."
Others were quick to defend the actor against "body shaming thin people."
"Maybe we should all take responsibility for our own mental health instead of blaming someone else for how we feel because of how they choose to look or dress," a fan wrote on Instagram.
"Can we not normalize body shaming smaller people for fashion choices just because their choice does not work for everyone's body?" another added.
Taylor-Joy had a stellar year in 2020, marked by her acclaimed performance in the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit," her lead role in "Emma," and her part in "The New Mutants," which catapulted her to Hollywood's A-list, according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, things slowed down in 2023, with only one film credit to her name: voicing Princess Peach in the animated "The Super Mario Bros Movie."
Denis Villeneuve, the director of "Dune: Part 2," intended to maintain secrecy around Taylor-Joy's role in the film until its London premiere. It was only then, as she posed alongside the cast on the red carpet, that her participation was revealed.
"I cannot believe that we kept the secret that long,” the film's director told Entertainment Weekly. "It required so much work to keep that secret. Everybody signed with their blood."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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